Protection against Helicobacter pylori infection in BALB/c mice by oral administration of multi-epitope vaccine of CTB-UreI-UreB

Chronic gastric infection by the Gram-negative bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is strongly associated with gastritis, gastric ulcer and the development of distal gastric carcinoma and gastric mucosal lymphoma in humans. Antibiotic treatment of H. pylori is becoming less effective because of increasing antibiotic resistance; other treatment approaches such as specifically targeted methods, etc. to destroy this organism would be beneficial. An epitope vaccine is a promising option for protection against H. pylori infection. In this study, a multi-epitope vaccine was constructed by linking cholera toxin B subunit (CTB), two antigenic fragments of H. pylori urease I subunit (UreI20–29, UreI98–107) and four antigenic fragments of H. pylori urease B subunit (UreB12–23, UreB229–251, UreB327–400, UreB515–561), resulting in the recombinant CTB-UreI-UreB (BIB). Its protective effect against H. pylori infection was evaluated in BALB/c mice. Significant protection against H. pylori challenge was achieved in BALB/c mice immunized with BIB (15/18, 83.3%), rIB plus rCTB (6/18, 33.3%) and rIB (2/18, 11.1%) separately, while no protective effect was found in the mice immunized with either adjuvant rCTB alone or PBS. The induction of significant protection against H. pylori is possibly mediated by specific serum IgA and mucosal sIgA antibodies, and a mixed Th1/Th2/Th17 cells response. This multi-epitope vaccine might be a promising vaccine candidate that helps to control H. pylori infection.